Jump Rebooted
by Sovereign Beta
Summary: Namine, a young, unassuming telepath, enrolls in the Castle Oblivion Mage Academy. There she will meet the friends and partners of a lifetime.


Jump is thus rebooted, and no longer am I an emo. YAY.

Heads up: this version has more of a fantasy/sci-fi feel to it. I didn't want to just write just another high school story.

**-0-0-**

Fourteen-year-old Naminé Farron did her best to ignore the curious stares of the other students on the train as she scribbled furiously in her sketchbook. The petite blonde, dressed in the Castle Oblivion Mage Academy's grey-and-black female uniform with a red freshman's crest on the lapel, found it progressively harder and harder to tune out the echoing, buzzing, distant-but-getting-closer chatter of her peers' thoughts as they focused more and more on her.

"What are you drawing there?" one girl finally asked.

"Nothing in particular," Naminé muttered. "I'm just drawing to distract myself. I'm a…I'm a psionic."

"Oh." The girl's eyes widened in realization and she inched away as fast as was still polite. "I see. Well, don't let me bother you with your…um…"

"Telepathy exercises," she said, and then she cringed in embarrassment. "A-and I didn't read your mind or anything! I was just—"

The girl hastily got up and walked over to the other side of the coach. The other students nearby, another girl and two boys, watched her leave with equally wide eyes. The boys quickly followed the first girl but the second girl stayed.

"You're a telepath?" she asked in a hushed whisper. "That's so cool! Tell me, what am I thinking right now?"

"Thanks, but I don't read other people's minds," Naminé replied. "It's really rude."

"Oh, that's no problem. I'm inviting you, right?"

"If you want, Kairi, then—oh!" She clapped her hands over her mouth, mortified. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry—"

Kairi laughed. "Oh, wow! That's some moe factor you've got there. I can't decide whether to be jealous or impressed."

Naminé cautiously scrutinized the other girl. She was beautiful, with long red hair complimenting her pale, smooth skin and framing her heart-shaped face, and had the warmest pair of indigo eyes she had ever seen. Kairi wore the same blazer and skirt as she did, but with a bronze sophomore's crest.

"My full name is Kairi Lea," the redhead said brightly, extending her hand to Naminé Farron. "What's yours?"

"I'm Naminé Farron, ma'am," she said immediately. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Likewise, Naminé," Kairi chuckled. "You don't have to be so formal, you know. Oblivion's a pretty casual place; we're not in the mage universities quite yet."

"But you're a sophomore, ma'am! I'm supposed to—"

Kairi held a finger to Naminé's lips, shushing her out of more surprise than anything else. "Tell you what, Naminé. As your first order from an older student, I want you to call me by my first name whenever we talk. Clear?"

Amazed, the blonde could only nod. "Y-Yeah. I understand, ma—Kairi."

"Great!" Kairi declared, grinning. "You don't anything to worry about, you respectful underclassman you."

Naminé blushed again.

"Oh, there it is again!" the redhead crowed. "You're ridiculously adorable, Nami. Can I call you that?"

"S-Sure."

"So can I know a bit more about your telepathy?" Kairi asked in a more serious tone. She turned to face the younger girl. "I've learned about psionics in magic theory class, but only the basics."

Unlike mages, who commanded internal and external magical energy to generate supernatural effects like fireballs and lightning bolts, psionics directly interfaced with and altered their environment. Through the power of their minds, they could lift a twenty-ton construction vehicle, read the minds of an entire crowd, or shift themselves across a hundred miles in the blink of an eye. And they were extremely rare—perhaps one out of forty thousand people had the potential, compared to one in four for mages.

"I'm already a fairly proficient mind-reader," Naminé explained. "Synaptic activity like thoughts and feelings automatically jumps into my mind for me to interpret. In crowds, I receive and have to process an immense amount of information, which is why I draw to help me focus. I'm not very good at the reverse, though; I only sent a thought once when I was six."

"They're going to train you how to do that, right?" Kairi said curiously. "Sending thoughts, I mean."

"I don't know if I can," she admitted. "Psionics aren't like magic. My powers are limited by my own ability. If I can't do it, then I can't do it."

The redhead frowned in disapproval. "You can't think that way, Nami. How can you be so sure of your real capabilities?"

"When my brains start leaking out of my ears, I'll know I've hit my limit."

"Such a pessimist," Kairi sighed. "Are all psionics as gloomy and emo as you are?"

"Kind of." Naminé hung her head. Then she shot up and pouted in consternation, glowering at her upperclassman. "Hey, that's not true! I'm not emo!"

Kairi just laughed.

**-0-0-**

"Welcome to Castle Oblivion," Kairi announced grandly. She glanced at the awestruck Naminé. "Impressive, isn't it? You never quite get used to seeing it."

"I guess not…"

The train had entered a long, dark tunnel a few minutes earlier. When it emerged, the train had driven along a railway suspended in the dusky orange sky, supported by nothing but the portal leading back to Twilight Town and the three-mile-wide floating island. And on that island was the golden castle with turquoise towers.

Naminé pressed her face against the window to get a closer look at Castle Oblivion. She had read a lot about the ancient fortress—it had been singlehandedly created centuries ago by the Keyblade Master Aqua, before her disappearance, from the ruins of another castle. It spanned almost a mile wide, and had twenty-five levels, thirteen floors and twelve basements. Much of the interior was still unexplored; rumor had it that anybody foolish enough to wander into the maze of the unknown areas would slowly lose their memories to the castle.

And a few people had actually gone off into the unexplored areas and never come back, which was where she stopped reading.

The railway in the sky curved away from direct contact with the floating island, instead tunneling into the edge on a tangent, where the island's station was, and curving back out again towards the portal. The train decelerated as it got closer and closer to the station, and then the orange dusk was replaced by fluorescent lights as the tunnel enveloped them.

The door on the closer end opened and a conductor entered the coach. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Castle Oblivion! Let's not jam up the place, so please form a single-file line and walk out through this exit here."

Naminé slid her sketchbook into her backpack and got up, stepping into line behind Kairi. As the students filed through the coach exit and onto the station platform, the blonde breathed in deeply and exhaled. She could smell the acrid fumes of oil and ozone and grime that all underground train stations seemed to possess. They reminded her that she really was on her own; her mother wasn't here to hold her hand anymore.

"Nervous?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah," Naminé admitted. "I feel lost just looking at this place."

"I was like that, too." The redhead shook her head in amusement. "And it just dawned on me that I'm actually only about a year older than you."

Passing two more platforms, the line of students continued down the long gray concrete corridor lit by fluorescent light strips leading towards the stairway at the end. Naminé wondered why such a large facility would have just three, but she supposed that this station was probably only used by students and faculty. There was probably a Gummi ship pad for visiting dignitaries somewhere else on the island.

They emerged into the station building inside the outer walls. Floor-to-ceiling windows afforded the students a spectacular view of the grounds. Hundreds of other students milled around on the artificial lawns and the gray gravel paths trod upon by thousands upon thousands of feet over the past years. The golden sides of Castle Oblivion loomed over everything outside, and the turquoise-faced main tower soared two thousand feet into the air.

"This place only has twelve floors?" Naminé said incredulously. She did the math in her head—there was anywhere from a hundred and fifty to two hundred feet of height for each floor. That wasn't even counting the basements.

"There's a bunch of sub-floors, actually," Kairi answered, "About fifteen to twenty for each floor and basement. One entire floor is devoted to the student and faculty housing."

"How many people are here on campus?"

"About ten thousand, give or take a few hundred."

Naminé gaped.

"Blows your mind, doesn't it?" Kairi agreed. She pointed at twenty-six rather lengthy lines extending from a row of tents set up near one of the three main doors. "Over there is student check-in. If we hurry we can finish up before midnight."

"Seriously? It's only five in the evening right now!" Though in hindsight, cataloging so many people would probably take that much time.

"I know. So come on, let's go."

Naminé hastened after the redhead. Dozens of other students, laughing and playing around in the carefree hours before the regimentation of school began, swirled around them, forcing the blonde to keep close or be left behind. She almost followed Kairi into the "L" line before realizing her mistake and walking over to the "F" line. Her cheeks heated again in embarrassment, but nobody seemed to have noticed her mistake.

She swung her backpack off her shoulder and crouched down, rummaging through the contents of the pack to get her student ID. When Naminé stood back up, the line had already shifted ahead and she quickly stepped forward to keep her spot.

And that was when she saw it. The wall of students separating her from it opened up for an instant, a freak accident, a breach in the line of uniforms. Two coincidentally simultaneous glances that allowed the young telepath and the Shadow, which had just materialized in a fenced-off patch of sand, to make eye contact. Her blue eyes widened unconsciously as disjointed, jagged thoughts jumped into her mind.

She had seen the diminutive Heartless in pictures before. Once she had thought of their darting yellow eyes, their twitching antennae, and their chubby, deformed shapes as almost cute.

_**FOOD**_

A high-pitched scream of terror split the air. Naminé dully realized it was her voice wailing in fear and pain as she stumbled back, clutching at her temples.

The Shadow sprinted towards the fence and vaulted over it, drawing shouts of warning from the students inside the arena. A dozen assorted Fire and Thunder spells from surrounding students struck it before it had taken even three steps out, exploding it into a rapidly-dissipating cloud of darkness.

Naminé covered her mouth with her hands, acid rising in her throat, and pushed past a blond boy asking her if she was okay. She mumbled a hasty apology as she dashed back to the station.

**-0-0-**

Xion paused when she heard a door slam open followed by violent retching in the stall next to hers. The raven-haired freshman slowly stepped out and peered around the corner to see a girl with waist-length blonde hair bent over the toilet and puking her guts out.

"Are you…?"

"No," the blonde croaked, turning to look at Xion, "I'm not okay. Could you please help me hold my hair back?"

_Wow, she's pretty._

Xion didn't notice the blonde's cheeks flushing pink as the brunette wordlessly crouched down next to her and gently drew her long hair back. The next few seconds were an awkward silence punctuated by coughing and choking. When she was done, the blonde scrambled to her feet and rushed out of the stall. Xion stood and followed her out to see her gargling water from the faucet.

"I'd wish you hadn't seen that," the blonde finally said, hanging her head and wringing her hands. "B-But I do want to thank you for your help."

"You're welcome," Xion said. "My name is Xion Noire, by the way."

"I'm Naminé Farron." The pretty blonde, her cheeks still pink, sucked in a breath. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Xion paused, and then decided to simply ask the question directly. "What happened to you?"

"Heartless," Naminé mumbled.

Xion blinked, shocked. "You were attacked?"

"No!" The blonde held her hands up. "No, I wasn't. I just saw one."

"Oh." Xion paused again, this time in confusion. "Naminé, I don't want to sound rude, but Castle Oblivion is a mage academy heavily associated with the military. Almost every student who graduates becomes a Heartless hunter for the Mage Divisions. I mean, you don't have to join the army, but the instructors will expect you to work past your fear of Heartless. If you can't, they might try to transfer you to another school, probably one that you didn't want to go to."

Naminé just stared at her. "I'm a telepath."

"You're a…" Xion exhaled in annoyance at herself. "Oh, I get it now. Sorry. I must have sounded pretty condescending."

The blonde looked surprised. "You're not scared?"

"Scared?" It was the black-haired girl's turn to stare at Naminé. "Why would I be scared of a girl who was vomiting into the toilet, right in front of me, not two minutes ago?"

Naminé flushed bright red to the tips of her ears.

"I do understand why psionics, especially telepaths, have their reputation," Xion continued. "It's just that I've never really understood that fear. Why would anybody want to look in someone else's head?"

"Oh," Naminé mumbled in surprise. "Well, everybody else doesn't seem to like me very much. I just thought that…"

"That I'd be the same?"

She hunched her shoulders in embarrassment. "Yeah, kind of. I'm sorry. And thank you."

"It's no problem," Xion said. She jerked her thumb at the restroom door. "Do you want to get out of here now?"

"Y-yeah, sure."

The two girls exited the restroom, Xion opening and holding the door for Naminé. Three more students, all of them sophomores, were waiting outside. A beautiful girl with long red hair had her hand clamped onto the shoulder of a shamefaced boy with spiky brown hair. A tall, very handsome boy with smooth silver hair reaching down to his waist stood behind both of them.

"Feeling better, Naminé?" the redhead asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay now," the telepath said, smiling weakly. She gestured to her fellow freshman. "This is Xion Noire. She helped me when I was…um…"

"Hi, Xion," the redhead said brightly. "I'm Kairi Lea. The guy behind me is Riku Jenova, and this idiot here"—she glared daggers at the brunette boy, who cringed—"is Sora Curtiss."

"Nice to meet you both, Naminé, Xion," Riku said politely. His voice was deep and husky, the kind of smooth, gravelly tone that gave girls wet dreams. "Naminé, I'd like to apologize on behalf of Sora. He wasn't expecting that Shadow to react so suddenly on materializing."

Then he scowled at Sora, too. "But it's his own fault that he got complacent. The Coach is going to ream him a new one for letting a Heartless escape from the practice ring."

Naminé stared wide-eyed at Riku, somewhat overwhelmed by the genuine, gentlemanly concern radiating from his mind. "That's…it's fine. I wasn't hurt, right?"

The young telepath shuddered as she remembered what the Heartless's crazed, bloodthirsty thoughts had felt like. Only her human perceptions had made the shattered remnants of its sapience even that coherent, to prevent them from driving her into insanity.

Xion glanced back and forth between the other four students. She wasn't quite sure what to say, so she decided to keep her mouth shut.

"I still messed up," Sora finally spoke up, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, Miss Farron. It won't happen again."

"It better not," Naminé said, far more harshly than she intended. She winced when she saw Sora's ashamed expression become even guiltier. "Sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"Let's not get hung up on this," Kairi interrupted. "Naminé, Xion, have you already gotten signed in?"

"No," the two freshmen said.

The redhead exhaled and nodded at the ever-lengthening lines. "You may want to hurry, then. They won't allow you inside the castle until you do, and I don't think you'll want to stay out in the dark tonight."

**-0-0-**

"Name?" the tired-looking brunette woman asked. Remarkably enough she still managed a rather charming smile.

"Naminé Farron," the blonde answered. She shifted the straps of her backpack as the woman began flipping through her list of names. "I'm…I'm one of the new psionic students."

"Okay," the woman said. A few seconds passed. "Alright, found you. Do you have your documents?"

Naminé wordlessly handed them over. The woman set the stack down on a small processor pad at her elbow. The papers glowed for a moment, and then shrunk down into a single sheet.

"This student sheet has your room number, roommate, student ID card, and class schedule," the woman said, passing it to the young telepath. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay here, Miss Farron. Have a nice day."

"Thank you," Naminé replied. She read through the sheet as she walked away, narrowly sidestepping an oncoming junior as she went.

"Nami!"

She turned to see Kairi waving at her from under a paopu tree. Sora and Riku were sitting in its shade and Xion, looking a bit ill at ease among the older students, stood a bit further away from them. The blonde smiled and jogged over.

"So what's your room number?" the redhead inquired.

Naminé had gone over her class schedule first. She scanned the rest of the sheet, pulling the ID card off its adhesive and putting it in her pocket.

"I have Room 423, on Subfloor 5 of the Lowerclassmen Residential Floor," the blonde read aloud. She blinked in surprise when she saw the text below that. "Hey, Xion! It looks like you're my roommate."

"We are?" Xion pulled out her own student sheet. "Huh. You're right, we are."

"It'll be nice to have—"

She was cut off by a magically amplified voice announcing the arrival of the secondary train carrying the students' luggage.

"—a roommate that I've already met."

"I guess so," the other freshman agreed. "Now let's go get our stuff."

**-0-0-**

Afterword:

That's Chapter 1. I tried to pack as much exposition in because I don't know when I'll have the chance to post Chapter 2.

And yes, just like in the original Jump, parkour will play a major role in this story.


End file.
